Gaumont International TV To Do 'Barbarella' Series With Martha De Laurentiis, Nick Refn

After bringing Hannibal to the small screen with an upcoming NBC series, Gaumont International Television and producer Martha De Laurentiis are looking to do the same for another iconic character, Barbarella. GIT, the U.S.-based production and distribution arm of European feature studio Gaumont, is teaming with De Laurentiis and Drive director Nicolas Refn for a TV series that will be based on the character created by Jean-Claude Forest in a graphic novel and made famous in the 1968 sci-fi movie staring Jane Fonda as a sexpot tasked with finding and stopping the evil weapons inventor. Refn will direct and executive produce the series alongside De Laurentiis, whose late husband Dino produced the 1968 movie. Co-executive producers are Jean-Claude Forest’s son Julien Forest and Hollywood Comics principal Jean-Marc Lofficier.

Refn called Barbarella “one of the ultimate counter-cultural characters.” Added GIT CEO Katie O’Connell, “We are thrilled to have secured the rights from the Forest estate and are thrilled to be pairing the bold visceral style of Nicolas Refn with the pop culture icon Barbarella.” In addition to Bryan Fuller’s Hannibal starring Hugh Dancy and Mads Mikkelsen, GIT also is producing the upcoming Eli Roth series Hemlock Grove starring Famke Janssen and Bill Skarsgard for Netflix. Gaumont is producing two of Refn’s next feature films, including Only God Forgives starring Ryan Gosling. He is with WME, Annonymous and Independent Talent Group. Dino and Martha De Laurentiis originally acquired film rights to Barbarella in 2007. Dino was working on a feature Barbarella remake before his 2010 death; the project attracted a slew of directors and young actress but ultimately didn’t take flight.

13 Comments

Lucifer • on Jun 20, 2012 8:37 am

NOOOO!
ANOTHER FLOP COMING!

fluffo • on Jun 20, 2012 9:04 am

If they kept it ’60s mod retro and tongue-in-cheek like the original, it could be something different for American TV. Think the movie “CQ” and the movie-within-the-movie they were trying to make there. Would be even sweeter if somehow Miss Fonda could be involved. Maybe as an evil CEO of some kind.

scifi_fan • on Jun 20, 2012 1:11 pm

The campy approach wouldn’t work on cable and the material is too sexy for broadcast. They either need to make it smarter and put it on cable or tone it down for broadcast. The first option might be worthwhile but the second is a non starter. Either way, it would have to be greatly transformed because the source material is too stupid and dated now.

fluffo • on Jun 21, 2012 2:23 am

Back in ’07, people like you were saying that nobody wanted to see a “dated” TV show about an advertising agency in 1960.

rocketeuropa • on Jun 20, 2012 9:23 am

Nah-tongue-in-cheek doesn’t cut it these days, the Bond reboot proved that.
What this needs is a combination of Sex and Star Wars. Think of that sexy fem-bot from Battlestar Galactica.
Now THATS the ticket!

scifi_fan • on Jun 20, 2012 1:12 pm

In other words, what we need is sexier Farscape. Just bring back Farscape and sex it up for premium cable (because SyFy really can’t tolerate anything much saucier than broadcast fodder.)

exUNIass • on Jun 20, 2012 9:31 am

Read the latest movie script when I was an assistant at Uni about a year ago — was one of the best script I’d ever read. Uni was very interested in making it, but got cold feet. Budget too high with a female lead, etc, etc.

But that was a bada$$ script.

john carter • on Jun 20, 2012 9:57 am

of course Lindsay Lohan for the lead

love's labors lost • on Jun 20, 2012 10:03 am

ugh…i don’t think this translates well to today’s television. People will put up with and enjoy a lot of archness if it’s only two hours long…but a season of this? It’s the same reason Wonder Woman just didn’t translate.

Ummm • on Jun 20, 2012 1:24 pm

Wonder Woman didn’t translate because the entire concept of making the Diana Prince character a marketing exec by day and superhero by night, or whenever, was too stale and got the quirky “The Practice/Ally McBeal” spin that was too much of a departure from the source material. It was like a coffee-house screenwriter’s fever dream after coffee and Electric Lotus too close together. IF they do make “Barbarella” then at least keep it sexy – most of the key characters were attractive and had comic timing. Don’t put an actress in a bad bob wig or something so far removed from the original. Jessica Alba and Jennifer Garner are just two TV leads of the last decade or so who proved there’s a market for agile, athletic powerful women on TV.

scifi_fan • on Jun 20, 2012 1:02 pm

Duuuuumb idea.

Space Sweeper • on Jun 20, 2012 5:56 pm

Fantastic. Now get Elizabeth Banks or Yvonne Strahovski for the role and we’ll be golden.

Glen • on Jun 22, 2012 8:10 pm

Do this as a late night show on Cinemax, and make the sex and nudity frequent with really hot chicks.